Chicken

Homestead Chicken Pot Pie

All the comfort of pot pie filling, with no crust to roll out.

Prep 8 min LOW 6–7 hours HIGH 3–4 hours Serves 6

Homestead Chicken Pot Pie, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

Pot pie is one of the great comfort foods and one of the most annoying things to actually make. Crust, blind baking, a filling that has to be cooked separately and cooled before it goes in.

This is the filling, done properly, with none of that. Thick, creamy, full of vegetables and shredded chicken, and it tastes exactly like what's under the crust at a good diner.

Then you spoon it over a warm biscuit. That's your crust. Nobody has ever complained.

Why you'll love it

Pot pie without the pastry.

All the flavor, none of the rolling, chilling or blind baking.

Vegetables built in.

Carrots, peas, celery and potatoes all cook right in it.

The most nostalgic thing we make.

This is the smell people associate with their grandmother's kitchen.

A biscuit is a better crust anyway.

Warm, buttery, and you didn't make it.

What's already in the packet

Dry cream of chicken soup baseWhole milk powderCream cheese powderButter powderOnionGarlicCelery powderPoultry seasoningParsleyThymeChicken bouillonWhite pepperThickener

A heavy cream of chicken base with poultry herbs and enough thickener to hold a spoon up.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 6–7 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 3–4 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 165°F

Check before shredding. Potatoes should pierce easily at the same time.

You'll Need

2 lbs Chicken (pick one below)
3 cups Water or chicken broth
1 packet Cook SLO Homestead Chicken Pot Pie
3 cups Carrots, potatoes and celery

Pick your chicken

2 lbs

Chicken breasts

2 lbs

Chicken thighs

2 lbs

Rotisserie chicken, shredded

Cook chicken to 165°F

Add vegetables

Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Diced potatoes (fresh or frozen)Chopped celery (fresh or frozen)Peas (frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)Mixed vegetables (frozen)Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)Canned corn

Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen), diced potatoes (fresh or frozen), chopped celery (fresh or frozen) and diced onion (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; mushrooms at the start to melt into the sauce, or the last two hours to keep their shape; peas (frozen) and Mixed vegetables (frozen) in the last twenty minutes; canned corn in the last thirty minutes.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Diced potatoes (fresh or frozen)Chopped celery (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, or the last two hours	Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)	Mushrooms are a choice. At the start they melt into the sauce and deepen it. In the last two hours they hold their shape and keep some bite.
Last 20 minutes	Peas (frozen)Mixed vegetables (frozen)	Spinach wilts in about five. A whole bag cooks down to roughly half a cup, so use more than looks reasonable. Frozen peas go grey and wrinkled if added earlier.
Canned corn and hominy, drained	Canned corn	Last 30 minutes. Fully cooked already, so anything longer turns it to mush.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: sliced carrots (fresh or frozen), diced potatoes (fresh or frozen), chopped celery (fresh or frozen), diced onion (fresh or frozen) and sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Add peas (frozen), Mixed vegetables (frozen) and canned corn when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.

If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Corn

Canned corn	Last 30 minutes	Drain first. It is fully cooked already, so it only needs heating — added early it goes to mush.
Canned fire-roasted corn	Last 30 minutes	Same timing. Worth seeking out for the smoky note, especially in chili and anything southwest.
Canned hominy	Last 30 minutes	Drain and rinse. Bigger and chewier than corn, and what turns a pork stew into posole.

Pasta and noodles

**Cooked separately.** Spoon it over cooked wide egg noodles instead of biscuits for chicken and noodles. **Do not add dry pasta to the pot for this recipe.** The sauce is cream and cheese based. Pasta cooked in it releases starch that turns the sauce gluey and grainy. Boil it separately and combine at the end.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Whisk the packet into the water before it goes in
Do not sprinkle dry powder onto liquid in the pot. Put the 3 cups in a jug, add the packet, whisk until there are no lumps, then pour it over. Cheese and cream powders dissolve properly this way and the sauce comes out smooth instead of grainy.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the carrots, potatoes and celery in first, then the chicken on top.
Vegetables sit closest to the heat because they take longest.
2
Pour in the 3 cups of whisked liquid and stir once.
You dissolved the packet in the water already, so there is no powder to work in and no risk of lumps. One stir to settle everything.
3
Put the lid on.
Add frozen peas in the last 20 minutes if you're using them.

When about 30 minutes are left

Creamy upgrade

Shred the chicken in the pot and stir it back through.

Two forks, right in the sauce.

Leave the lid off for 15 minutes, then serve.

This is what takes it from soupy to proper pot pie filling.

Stirring

Stir once at the halfway point

Cheese and cream powders settle against the hot crock wall and scorch into a brown ring. That ring then breaks up into the sauce and makes it grainy. One stir at the halfway point prevents it, and one is all you need — every lift of the lid costs about twenty minutes.

Swaps and add-ins

Use rotisserie chicken.

Shred it and add in the last hour. Cuts the whole thing to about 90 minutes.

Drop biscuits on top.

Canned biscuit dough on the surface for the last 45 minutes with the lid on. Steamed dumpling crust.

Make it a turkey pot pie.

Perfect use for leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Add it in the last hour.

Add corn.

A cup of frozen corn with the peas. Sweetness against all that savory.

Tips for success

Lid off at the end is what makes it pot pie. Leave it on and you have soup. Fifteen minutes uncovered thickens it properly.
Cut the potatoes big. Small pieces disintegrate over seven hours. Inch-and-a-half chunks hold.
Frozen mixed vegetables are genuinely fine. No washing, no chopping, and they hold up well.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

Fresh chopped parsley or thyme.

This dish is beige. Fresh green on top changes how it looks and tastes.

A crack of black pepper.

Pot pie filling is mild by design. Fresh pepper gives it an edge.

A warm buttered biscuit under it.

Not a garnish — the crust. Serve it over, not beside.

Serve it over

Over split biscuitsOver mashed potatoesIn bowls with crackersOver toastWith a puff pastry square

Tomorrow night

Actual pot pie.

Pour into a pie crust, top with a second crust, bake 35 minutes at 400°F.

Chicken and dumplings.

Thin with broth, drop in biscuit dough, simmer 15 minutes.

Shepherd's-style bake.

Top with mashed potatoes, bake until browned.

Pot pie soup.

Thin with two cups of broth and call it what it is.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months, though potatoes soften on thaw.

Reheating

Low with a splash of broth. It sets very firm when cold.

Questions people ask

Recipe card